That's almost nothing. The Greeks where I live ran a large weekend Greek festival, with spit roasts, souvlakia etc, for more than 30 years, close to the date of Greek Independence Day, which coincides with the Annunciation. Smack in the middle of Great Lent.

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I bet that the festival planners honestly didn't know and/or didn't care that their Greek Festival falls during the Apostles Fast, especially when these communities have a tradition of having their Greek Festival between Father's Day and the 4th of July due to the availability of volunteers.

The reason the Greek church in town has their fest when they do is so they don't have to compete with the other big RCC fest weekends and city festival weekends to get as much money as possible.

On their homepage, tons of info about their desire to push gluttony, lust, greed, etc. but nothing about the fast.

The Greek Orthodox Church in America creates an unfortunate stereotype for Orthodoxy in America: RCC without gyros and no Pope.

The other smaller "ethnic" lodges which serve Liturgy on Sunday do as well.

The "Greeks" (lulz at Americans who identify with an another country) have been here too long to seriously call themselves "Greek" and the ethnic clubs that serve Liturgy are so insularly ethnic and closed to call themselves "Catholic".

That is the good thing about the OCA, it jettisons all this accumulated nonsense.

The reason the Greek church in town has their fest when they do is so they don't have to compete with the other big RCC fest weekends and city festival weekends to get as much money as possible.

On their homepage, tons of info about their desire to push gluttony, lust, greed, etc. but nothing about the fast.

The Greek Orthodox Church in America creates an unfortunate stereotype for Orthodoxy in America: RCC without gyros and no Pope.

The other smaller "ethnic" lodges which serve Liturgy on Sunday do as well.

The "Greeks" (lulz at Americans who identify with an another country) have been here too long to seriously call themselves "Greek" and the ethnic clubs that serve Liturgy are so insularly ethnic and closed to call themselves "Catholic".

That is the good thing about the OCA, it jettisons all this accumulated nonsense.

Why did this topic get moved? I thought it might get polemical. //:=|

Lord have Mercy on me a sinner.

We have a truly wonderful parish and a Priest that tries to herd us along and provide guidance as needed to help us observe fasts and feasts.

The normal Friday fast falls within our fest, and serving Gyros on Fridays was not fun. But I did get a Gyro on Sunday.

The "Greeks" (lulz at Americans who identify with an another country) have been here too long to seriously call themselves "Greek"

It's not for you to decide, especially when you have no clue what you are talking about.

When I find a Polish Orthodox Church in the USA, I will let you know if Polish-Americans there continue to call themselves Polish. Yes, there are some Greek-Americans who still identify with Greece and some who have "cast aside" their ethnicity for the heterogeneous American one. Yet, for some Greek Orthodox Churches in the USA, a festival nets more than $100,000 which supplements the Church's Stewardship. Some of the festival money is used for iconography or building maintenance or to make ends meet.

Please give me the names of the people from the parish since you know how long they have been in America, etc.

Do you even know what parish I am talking about?

What in common have length of the duration in America and nationality? Do you know the difference between nationality and citizenship?

I believe Orthonorm here is referring to Greek-Americans who are three or four generations away from being immigrants. At least I hope so. If that's the case it's certainly long enough to have shed the old "nationality". I'm 4th generation Italian (with a few other things as many Americans, but the Italian is dominant both in name and genetics), but the only thing actually "Italian" about me are some great pasta recipes that have been in the family for years.

That said, there's plenty of parishes in America which are a hub for Greeks who just immigrated recently, or with a large percentage of older first generation immigrants. The local Greek cathedral here has a large immigrant population, with a Greek priest who will give two homilies, one in English (before Communion for some reason) and one in Greek after the Liturgy but before dismissal (at least I assume the second speech is a homily, it lasts as long as one). I don't criticize them for that, it's a necessity, along with the large percentage of Greek used in the Liturgy. I decided to go to the OCA parish, though it's a little farther, it's all in English and I don't have a second sermon sitting between me and coffee

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"Funny," said Lancelot, "how the people who can't pray say that prayers are not answered, however much the people who can pray say they are." TH White

I just wish parishes would try to schedule the celebration outside of any fasting time. Then, 100% of attendees, Orthodox and otherwise, could go there without being 'stuck' in this issue.

I agree. I see nothiong wrong with festivals, but find it problematic for any church to hold activities that their congregation can't fully participate in, like serving meat during a fasting period, unless there is some sort of blessing given to eat in honor of a patronal celebration or something like that.

I just wish parishes would try to schedule the celebration outside of any fasting time. Then, 100% of attendees, Orthodox and otherwise, could go there without being 'stuck' in this issue.

I agree. I see nothiong wrong with festivals, but find it problematic for any church to hold activities that their congregation can't fully participate in, like serving meat during a fasting period, unless there is some sort of blessing given to eat in honor of a patronal celebration or something like that.

There are not feasts nor fests for the community of the parish, nor are they meals shared offered to the local poor. They are substitutions for poor stewardship orchestrated in concert with secular and heterodox organizations to make as much money as possible off the crowd searching for a place to gamble, drink, engage in gluttony, and the like throughout the entirety of the summer.

Nor do they have anything more to do with being "Greek" in this case as St. Patrick's Day has to do with being "Irish" at your typical St. Paddy's parade.